IN PERSON

IN PERSON;Lord of the Bees

Published: June 16, 1996

(Page 2 of 2)

He watches the queen bee lay eggs, the worker bees clean the honey cells and the drones, or male bees, mate with the queen and make a speedy, permanent exit. He knows that bees can predict a rainfall and travel five miles from the hive in search of nectar. And he admires the fact that bees born in summer live only a few weeks, working themselves to death for the good of the hive.

"You can watch bees your entire life and still not understand them completely," he said. "There are a lot of questions we still can't answer."

MR. STILES first handled bees as a teen-ager, when he joined a 4-H club outside Rutland, Vt. He studied entomology at the Pennsylvania State University, where he researched the dreaded trachea mite. After graduating in 1992, he spent several months inspecting bees for the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture. He took the New Jersey job in 1993, and a year later the Eastern Apiculture Society named him a master beekeeper after he aced a three-part exam. He shares the appellation with 80 apiarists nationwide, an honor he says "helped me prove something to myself."

Most of Mr. Stiles' colleagues are more than twice his age, while he has yet to attend his five-year college reunion. A true child of the 70's, he sneaks peeks at killer-bee horror movies like "The Deadly Invasion," which he caught on television last month and found "absolutely pathetic." "The Swarm," in which mutant bees attacked an entire town, was no better, he said.

"Bees just don't do these awful things," he said, indignant. "They don't trap children in school buses. They don't crawl faster than a person."

But they do sting people, not least Mr. Stiles, who has suffered so many pricks that he barely feels them anymore. (When a testy member of his own colony stung him behind the ear the other day, he appeared almost grateful for the attention.) Then again, if bees didn't sting, Mr. Stiles would never have met his girlfriend.

She sought him out last year because she has multiple sclerosis and had heard that bee stings could help the condition. She started going to his house for regular stings, and a relationship blossomed. She now willingly receives 100 bee stings a week, a procedure that Mr. Stiles says helps regenerate damaged nerve endings. The body responds to the venom by creating extra blood plasma and protein that help fight the disease, he said.

The couple plan to marry next year, at the home of a beekeeper friend. In the best possible scenario, Mr. Stiles said, both newlyweds would don bee beards, his ideal photo op. But he has yet to persuade his fiancee.

Photos: Grant Stiles shuns the protective gear that many beekeeperswear. Heprotects himself by releasing pine needle smoke into the hive, disguising the "alarm odor" bees emit when their turf is invaded. (Photographs by Keith Meyers/The New York Times)